When I
first heard Three Fish was touring, I was thrilled! The first thing that
popped into my head was, "Please do not play Detroit during the first two
weeks of July!" See...last time Three Fish toured and played Detroit in
1996, they played during the first two week of July...first two weeks of
July is GM shutdown time, aka time for the Gates family vacation. So against
my will, I missed the Three Fish at the 7th House in 1996. I vowed I would
never miss this band live the next time they played Detroit...Three Fish
is one of my favorite bands! The day
that the tentative tour dates were announced, I was working...I check Synergy
everyday for updates...and so at work, I stumbled across the tour dates.
I was thrilled! The tentative date for Detroit was June 3rd or 4th...alright!
I could make it. I remember thinking, "But wait...why does June 4th stick
out so much." Duh. Graduation day. This is when a lot of hoping took place..."Please
play the 3rd...please play the 3rd...please play the 3rd..." My bosses
were entertained by my panic...and weirded out that I would actually consider
skipping my graduation for a concert. Well
then, it happened. The tentative date was no longer. They chose June 4th.
Great. There went my plans of seeing Three Fish. Days
went by...life went on after the tickets went on sale...and my mom took
it upon herself to decide that "There is no way in hell you are missing
that concert. You are going. I do not care if you only make it for one
song...we are going." That was that. She bought tickets...plan was...we
were going to jet as fast as we possibly could after graduation.

The day arrives...

The doors
for Three Fish were to open at 6:00. Graduation started at 7:30. I asked
at the graduation rehearsal how long they estimated the ceremony would
take. I was told one and a half hours...last year's was one hour. Whew.
I thought we could make it. The plan
was, the whole family took one car to graduation, but we had my car ready
to go for the show. My mom, fake brother, Dave, and I were going as we
were dressed for graduation. Mom in a dress...Dave in dress clothes...me
in my cap and gown! During
the entire ceremony, I was antsy..."Ohmigosh, what time is it?"...did not
have a watch one because the watch I wear is not appropriate for graduation...big
and bulky:-) Anyhow...the ceremony ended around 8:45...pretty good timing.
We all ran to the car, drove home, jumped into my car and jetted to Detroit. We parked
my car, ran into the Shelter...meanwhile, we were getting very funny looks
because I was still in my cap and gown(I refused to take off my cap because
I looked like I belonged in a church choir...kind of like the M.C. Hammer
"Pray" video...haha). Finally got into the Shelter after waiting for someone
to find a marker so they could mark an "X" on my hand (don't you think
the cap and gown gave away the fact that I was underage...?)...no one was
on stage. Woo hoo! I made it before Three Fish's set!!! Prior
to Three Fish's set, talked to some people I knew from trading and stuff...and
tried to catch my breath... :-) Three
Fish's show was amazing...I have to say, I disagree with Robbi's comment
after the show, he said it was not a good show...but I was amazed! I am
not sure of a setlist because...well...my mind was mucked up...well sorta
IS mucked up...not only did I have graduation prior to the concert, but
I had the senior all-night party to attend after the Three Fish show! Insanity,
eh? During
one point in the show, Robbi looked at me weird and was like, "Why are
you dressed like that?" (I got asked that a lot that night) I said, "I
graduated tonight." He said, "Wow! Congratulations" and personally applauded
me:-) I believe
they shortened their set...in part...I think...to some rude drunk people
that insisted on talking very loud...Robbi at one point tried to quiet
them, but they just did not get the point. From what I saw of the setlist,
there were four songs for the encore, but they only played one or two...can
not remember if it was one or two:-) At the
end of the show, Jeff hung around the "backstage" area and signed some
autographs and took some pictures, but he did not do that for long and
I did not get a chance to take my ... turn... Robbi
then came out and signed some autographs...so I approached him and we talked
about me graduating and he asked what I was going into and congratulated
me again. I asked him to sign my cap...and he was like...in his awesome
accent, "Are you suuuuuure?" I told him I was...he gave me a look and still
was unsure... I convinced him to sign it, but he would only write on the
top button of the cap...oh well:-) He wrote, "To Jessica Shine On Robbi"...

Since
it was graduation night, my mom had a camera on her...here are some of
the pictures I snapped...and the scan job is not the greatest...but oh
well...I still can not figure out this "new" scanner that we've had since
like..September of '98...